More than a month ago, Phan Thiet Food Street officially opened to serve locals and tourists. This is the first night food street in Binh Thuan province, expected to become a highlight in the night-time economic development strategy of Phan Thiet city.
Honestly, when traveling to any province or city, I am always curious to ask the locals if there is a night market. Because in addition to eating and drinking coffee in the evening, tourists want to leisurely stroll around the streets, learn about specialties as well as enjoy regional cuisine through food streets and stalls at the night market. When Phan Thiet has a Food Street, it means that this place will have more typical tourism products to attract domestic and foreign tourists. Although it is only a pilot project, the construction of a food street on weekends will be an orientation to build a night-time economic development model suitable to the advantages and practical conditions of Phan Thiet.
This culinary street was formed on Tuyen Quang Street, attracting nearly 100 stalls, including many stalls selling and introducing OCOP products of Binh Thuan, stalls selling typical local dishes following the model of a rural market (street vendors). In addition, this area also has stalls selling specialties and souvenirs of the coastal city of Phan Thiet.
Despite high expectations, after a few weeks of bustling activities due to the Lunar New Year, the food street is now facing a situation where customers are starting to thin out. Through my own experience as well as that of local people, the activities at the food street are not unique or diverse, mainly revolving around eating and shopping, and there are not many cultural and artistic events to create attractive highlights for tourists. Many food stalls mainly sell pre-made street food, fast food, and the quality is not good, and have not created a unique impression. After more than 1 month of operation, the stalls have begun to thin out and the operating model here is "similar" to the food markets that have "died young" in many other provinces and cities.
How can pilot models and night markets maintain sustainability, develop, and innovate to meet changing customer tastes? I have been to Da Lat night market, Phu Quoc night market, Can Tho night market... everywhere is crowded and bustling with many stalls selling local specialties and souvenirs, next to food stalls like in other provinces and cities. So why are these destinations maintained so well? To attract tourists as well as locals who look forward to coming back every week, perhaps the food street should improve its space, the dishes must be diverse, attractive, and especially need to have spiritual "food" so that visitors linger on the food street more than just browsing around and leaving.
Increasing the attractiveness of the food street not only helps increase revenue for businesses but also contributes to the development of tourism and local culinary culture. Typically, in Da Lat, on weekends the night market always has quite vibrant outdoor music groups, Phan Thiet should also maintain such special music programs, combining street art activities every weekend. In addition, to create a difference, Phan Thiet can also organize a "food tour" program, providing themed combo dishes to help visitors easily experience the culinary quintessence of the neighborhood. At the same time, training for sellers in professional, friendly, civilized and hospitable service style. Not only that, Phan Thiet is also researching to organize cooking and beverage mixing competitions as before, but on a smaller scale to increase entertainment and liveliness for the area. These activities will help the food street become a destination not only for eating and drinking but also a place for entertainment and relaxation.
At the same time, building communication channels on digital platforms such as Facebook, TikTok... is an extremely important factor to spread the image, promote to the public, attract the attention of tourists inside and outside the province. In addition, it is possible to cooperate with personal Facebook pages specializing in introducing regional and local cuisine to make authentic and attractive reviews. Not only that, linking with travel companies to include Phan Thiet Food Street in the tour program is also an effective way to increase the number of visitors.
From those small plus points, together with the efforts of the functional sector and the cooperation of small traders and stalls in the culinary street, it will certainly create a unique brand for Phan Thiet's culinary street compared to other provinces and cities. Thereby contributing to the increasingly clear strategy of developing the night economy of Phan Thiet in particular and tourism in Binh Thuan province in general.
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/am-thuc-dem-phan-thiet-can-su-khac-biet-128295.html
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